As the British Council’s Head of Arts & Disability in the European Union region, Ben coordinates a transnational project building links between disabled artists and building links between organisations, arts funders and policymakers seeking to transform access to the arts for disabled people as audiences and artists. This includes the website and regular newsletter www.disabilityartsinternational.org / @DisArtsInt on Twitter. After training and working as a theatre director, Ben became Director of Theatre at London's Oval House  - a theatre known for the diversity of its audiences and for the non-conformity of its artists, including pioneering Deaf and disabled artists. Ben then became Creative Director of BeCreative, an independent producing company and consultancy, working on a variety on international projects including launching the inaugural Lagos Theatre Festival in Nigeria. Ben first joined the British Council as the Drama and Dance adviser for EU Europe and sub-Saharan Africa, and subsequently as Head of Arts in Portugal. Ben was also Project Director of an EC-funded four-country project supporting Deaf & disabled performing artists entitled ‘Unlimited Access’.